


Hypothesis

by Mx Magic Fluffenmew (PerpetuallyDone)



Series: Android Lil Bulb [2]
Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-14
Updated: 2019-10-14
Packaged: 2020-12-16 07:54:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21032825
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PerpetuallyDone/pseuds/Mx%20Magic%20Fluffenmew
Summary: Fenton has questions.  Some Bulb can answer, and some it can’t.  (Android Lil Bulb AU)





	Hypothesis

It was a question Lil Bulb hadn’t been expecting. Fenton was the more emotional one of their team, yes, but it didn’t expect him to be so blunt about it. Or so stupid for that matter.

“…Of course I like you,” Bulb replied, giving Fenton a half-lidded stare quite similar to that of its father. “Isn’t it obvious?”

Fenton frowned at the android, one hand rubbing the back of his neck. “Uh… No? Not really? You literally just told me I should scrap my notes. I’ve been sitting here working on them for a while now, and out of the blue you tell me that.”

Rolling its eyes, Bulb set its clipboard down on the desk set it sat on. “Because if you apply that solvent to any clone made from the cloning spray, it will only make it disintegrate if you keep the main chemical in it. You’re not going to be able to fix the clones. Eventually, they will become super-heated and turned into ash like the last three did. It’s only a matter of ‘when’ not 'if’,” it said all too easily with lifted hands and a shrug.

“As much as it would anger him, the best solution is fix to my father’s cloning spray. Not the clones themselves." 

Slowly, Fenton lowered his gaze back to his pile of notes. His brow furrowed. "I guess you have a point.”

“Of course, I do." Bulb waved a hand dismissively before folding its arms over its chest.

"And of course I like you. I let you use my robot body to augment a laser. I was a lamp for your date with that deceitful woman, and I even helped provide entertainment." Tilting its head to the side, Bulb gave Fenton a curious look. "Why would you think otherwise?”

Fenton couldn’t help but chuckle when Bulb’s fluff of hair flopped over one of its eyes. He watched as it straightened itself up, pawing its hair back into place. "Well… You don’t exactly phrase things in the nicest way. You’re kind of like your father in that way.“

Bulb paused its preening, hands going still as it looked back to Fenton. "Is… That a bad thing?

Fenton blinked curiously at the android. "About how you say things? Well, it can be. People won’t always understand what you mean,” he began to explain as he tidied up his notes into a neat pile. 

“If they think you’re being rude, they’re less likely to listen to you. Like if you first told me my chemical composition was wrong, I wouldn’t have accused you of being needlessly mean to me. If you mean acting like Gyro, though…” He clipped the notes together and tossed them to the side, then turned his chair to face Bulb, still perched on the corner of his desk. Seeing the unsure expression on its face, he gave it a reassuring smile.

“That’s not a bad thing. He’s a great man. He’s just, uh… A little rough around the edges,” he chuckled as he leaned back in his seat.

“I see…" Bulb lowered its hands and stared down at them for a moment. Right when Fenton thought it would hop down and leave, it turned its gaze back to him.

"I hope you know he likes you too.”

“Bulb, he tried to toss me out as a decoy to the Moonlanders.

"If anyone could survive such a thing, it would have been you." Bulb turned on its perch to face Fenton, a serious look in its yellow eyes. It pursed its beak.

"Working for Mister McDuck, doesn’t mean you have to work for Doctor Gearloose. Him not telling you how amazing you are all the time doesn’t mean he thinks you’re a failure. In fact.” The stern expression faded into a rare smile. "He was pretty impressed you managed to charge me with your Fentonium.“

Fenton perked up with a grin. "He really said that?”

Bulb let out a bark of laughter, shaking its head. “What?? No, he wouldn’t _say _it. Didn’t you see the nod of approval? The slight smile on his beak? He didn’t even noticed you left the lab in shambles!”

The grin almost instantly vanished. Fenton shot Bulb a withered look as the android continued to laugh at him. “Actually, no. I was watching _you_ to make sure _you _weren’t left in shambles if the Fentonium malfunctioned.”

Bulb’s laughter stopped as soon as the words left Fenton’s mouth. It looked away, having the sense to look embarrassed. "I… Okay, you have a point there.“

Snatching up its clipboard, it finally hopped down from Fenton’s desk. It paused for a moment to straight out its bow tie and shirt, keeping its gaze pointedly away from Fenton. "Thank you for making sure I didn’t explode when you decided to charge me with your experimental materials.”

Instead of trying to correct it again, Fenton took Bulb’s words for what he knew they were. Smiling, he nodded to it.“You’re quite welcome, Lil Bulb. If it means anything, it would be safer to charge you with it now, considering how much you’ve grown.”

“Grown?" Bulb’s brow furrowed as it finally turned to face Fenton. It held its hands out, clipboard in one of them. "I didn’t *grow*. I’m not actually a child, you know.”

“Why not?”

“Because I’m a machine." Bulb gestured up and down to itself, a deep frown settling on it face. 

Fenton shrugged with a smile. "Why can’t you be both? He calls you his child, after all. He made your current body look like his biological offspring would. Just because you didn’t get to be like the other kids before, that doesn’t mean you can’t be one now.”

Bulb let out an irritable noise and opened its beak to retort. Yet no words came to mind. It snapped its beak shut, and folded its arms over its chest. 

“Lil Bulb…?" Fenton questioned hesitantly as he sat up straighter in his chair. 

Bulb always knew it was a machine. Even as a robot, it thought of Gyro as its creator, its father. He risked his life for it, showed it affection, openly claimed it as his own, and told everyone how amazing it was. Now it was an android, and he did all of that and more. He bought it bedding, gave it office supplies for helping in the lab, let it charge in his bed. He was trying to do more. He was seeing it as more than only a machine. 

Yet it wasn’t acting like a child. It wasn’t acting like the red nephew or the pink niece. It didn’t play, or go to school, or anything like other children should. It probably didn’t even talk like one.

It couldn’t let go that it was more than it used to be. More than just a machine.

It was happy, though. It really was. But part of it started to wonder if perhaps… There was something more to this. Maybe it wasn’t utilizing it’s full potential. Maybe it needed to try harder. Or maybe something went wrong, and it was only a matter of time before it-

Feeling a heavy hand on its shoulder, Bulb jerked out of its thoughts with a soft gasp. Fenton quickly leaned back, holding both hands up. It hadn’t even realized he got down on the floor, kneeling close to it. 

"Are you okay…? I’m sorry if I upset you,” Fenton murmured. “I just thought that… Maybe now that your were in a body that suited you better, you might want to take advantage of that. If you don’t want to though, no one is going to make you.”

Clutching its clipboard tightly in both hands, Bulb only stared at Fenton for a moment before blurting out, “I’m happy.”

Fenton raised his brows, then smiled. “That’s good.”

Bulb looked down at the clipboard. “So is my father." 

With a hum of agreement, Fenton nodded. "He is.”

“I think I could be happier though. Is that possible?”

Knee starting to ache from digging into the tile, Fenton flopped back onto his rump and crossed his legs. “I think it is. There’s nothing wrong with trying to be happier.”

Hesitating for a second longer, Bulb lifted its gaze to Fenton. Seeing the tremble of its jaw, the squint of its eye, his heart ached for the little android. He wasn’t sure if it was possible for it to cry, and for its sake, he didn’t want to find out. 

He offered it a hand, but Bulb didn’t acknowledge it. Instead, the child closed the gap between them, pulling him into a tight hug. Not thinking twice, he returned the hug, one hand rubbing its back.

As suddenly as it happened, Bulb pulled back, already turning to walk away. “Thank you, Fenton,” it mumbled before darting off.

From his spot on the floor, Fenton watched the child leave down the hallway with a fond smile. “Good luck, Lil Bulb.”


End file.
